Difference between revisions of "Convivial Tools"
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| − | I created my first website, which was intended to be a [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org Convivial Tools Encyclopedia], in order to promote the ideas of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Illich Ivan Illich] about what he called "Convivial Tools". | + | I created my first website, which was intended to be a [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org Convivial Tools Encyclopedia], in order to promote the ideas of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Illich Ivan Illich] about what he called "Convivial Tools". I then copied much of the material from that site over to the less formal [http://convivialtools.net Convivial Tools Database], which is supposed to replace the first website. |
==The vision of Ivan Illich== | ==The vision of Ivan Illich== | ||
The underlying theme of all of Illich's work is how to give back to the average citizen some part of the control over knowledge and technology which is currently exercized by specialized elites. | The underlying theme of all of Illich's work is how to give back to the average citizen some part of the control over knowledge and technology which is currently exercized by specialized elites. | ||
| − | Illich was a precursor of the personal computing revolution and of the Internet. His book [http://clevercycles.com/tools_for_conviviality Tools for Conviviality] directly influenced [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=39 Lee Felsenstein], whose key role in the invention of the personal computer is little recognized today. Illich also advocated "[http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=31 Learning Webs]" facilitated by a computer that would | + | Illich was a precursor of the personal computing revolution and of the Internet. His book [http://clevercycles.com/tools_for_conviviality Tools for Conviviality] directly influenced [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=39 Lee Felsenstein], whose key role in the invention of the personal computer is little recognized today. Illich also advocated "[http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=31 Learning Webs]," facilitated by a computer that would provide "peer matching." This remarkable premonition by Illich of one of the main functions of the Internet shows how much of his pioneering vision has today become mainstream. Another example is that he envisaged tools which would be developed and maintained by a community of users, which is precisely how [http://convivialtools.net/index.php?title=Free_and_Open_Source_Software Open Source Software] is developed. |
==Reparable tools== | ==Reparable tools== | ||
| + | :''Main article:'' [[Reparable Tools]] | ||
Illich's ideas could be applied to the design of household appliances, in order to give them the | Illich's ideas could be applied to the design of household appliances, in order to give them the | ||
[http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=2 characteristics of convivial tools], and notably [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=4 reparability]. | [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=2 characteristics of convivial tools], and notably [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=4 reparability]. | ||
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Designing appliances to be easily reparable by their owners would both give consumers more control over technology, and reduce waste by making appliances more durable and easier to recycle. | Designing appliances to be easily reparable by their owners would both give consumers more control over technology, and reduce waste by making appliances more durable and easier to recycle. | ||
| − | + | Key elements in the project of marketing [[Reparable Tools]] would be to provide highly usable maintenance manuals and garanteed long-term online availability of all necessary spare parts. | |
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| − | + | First steps for this project could be to identify the best available existing products (via a consumer reports type of website), or to have a pilot machine manufactured by a sub-contractor to "convivial" specifications. A second step might be to create a cooperative around this theme (as for example with the [[Cooperative Social Network]]). | |
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| − | + | ==Convivial systems== | |
| + | :''Main article:'' [[Convivial Systems]] | ||
| + | More broadly, I would like to explore the extent to which [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=20 idea systems], service systems and [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=21 social systems] can be considered "tools," and how they could be made more "convivial" in Illich's sense. | ||
| − | + | This vision can be set out in terms of a theory and practice of [[Convivial Systems]]. | |
| − | + | ==Convivial Internet== | |
| + | :''Main article:'' [[Convivial Internet]] | ||
| + | My projects in the field of Convivial Tools got bogged down in the details of fleshing out the several websites that I created on the subject. In the meantime, my attention turned to the exploration of the Internet as a tool. As a friend recently observed, I've been diverted from my project of making reparable washing machines to a project of making reparable machines for the processing of information. | ||
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| + | I now envisage a separate project concerning the [[Convivial Internet]] and [[Convivial Internet Tools]]. For example, open source software embodies many of the characteristics of convivial tools, but is generally still too hard to use, with modules that are far from being "reparable" by the average user. | ||
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| + | ==Total Customer Service== | ||
| + | :''Main Article:'' [[Total Customer Service]] | ||
| + | Illich's vision of Convivial Tools can also be developed in the realm of customer service. The ideal of unlimited customer service is inherent in the marketing of a convivial tool. Designing a household appliance that its owner can easily repair implies designing the whole after-sales cycle, including long-term availability of spare parts, usable documentation and online assistance. But from the vendor's point of view, commercial constraints always limit the amount of after-sales service one can offer. For example, telephone assistance is costly, so it is often made a paying service, or delocalized to overseas [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_center call centers], or replaced by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IVR Interactive Voice Response] (IVR). To imagine limitless improvement in customer service in the face of real-life economic constraints we have to go outside of the box of commercial logic with the help of an abstract ideal which I call [[Total Customer Service]]. | ||
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| + | Traditional marketing seeks to make the user dependent, which ensures continued business. The convivial tool or service on the contrary seeks to make the user autonomous. As the effective life of an appliance increases, the sale of new models declines. In the long run you might even help the consumer to make their own tool, thus cutting the vendor entirely out the process. But truly serving the interests of customers implies improving their entire lives and society as a whole. The question then becomes how to start from the vision of Total Customer Service and still find a way to make a profit from increasing the autonomy of your customers. | ||
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| + | ==Convivial Lifehacking Tools== | ||
| + | :''Main Article:'' [[Convivial Lifehacking Tools]] | ||
| + | As an extension to the development of Convivial Tools, we could explore the ways in which [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=20 idea systems] and [http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=21 social systems] can be considered "tools," and how they could be made more "convivial" in Illich's sense. The spirit of this project is close to that of the more recent term [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_hack lifehacking], which I have borrowed for the title of this project. The term "life hack" originally referred to productivity tricks that programmers devise to organize their data. It is now used for anything that solves an everyday problem in a clever way (see for example [http://lifehacker.com Lifehacker.com], the Gawker Media blog dedicated to life hacks.) | ||
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| + | However, the approach could be made more systematic than a set of isolated "hacks." One could imagine a collaborative effort par specialists in relevant fields (psychology, sociology, management, economics) to develop a "toolkit" of scientifically-founded concepts which could help individuals to take better control of their own lives. The toolkit could be deployed as a [[Convivial Help Sites]], for example a "Real Life User Guide" (similar to the [http://iuserguide.com/index.php?title=Main_Page Internet User Guide] which I've begun to build.) One could also imagine an similar systematic approach to the development of convivial social systems (for example, economic cooperatives such as the [[Cooperative Social Network]]). A closely similar approach is the recently-defined the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_2.0 Government 2.0] movement. | ||
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| + | ==Agent-Based Social Learning== | ||
| + | To be written - in the meantime see [http://www.cyberpotato.net/?p=169 this post] | ||
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| + | ==Building the Convivial Tools Commmunity== | ||
| + | (To be written) | ||
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| + | ==Links== | ||
| + | *Convivial Tools Encyclopedia (my first Convivial Tools website): http://conviviality.ouvaton.org | ||
| + | *Convivial Tools Database (this is meant to replace the preceding Convivial Tools Encyclopedia website): http://convivialtools.net | ||
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| + | ==See Also== | ||
| + | *[[Michael's Projects]] | ||
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| + | [[Category:Projects]] | ||
